Take the pressures off Killarney National Park — and expand it
Muckross Pictures: Lake View Pádraic National Fogarty A Over Park: Killarney
Killarney National Park in autumn sunshine, as light filters through the boughs of ancient oaks and the roar of rutting red deer stags echoes through the valleys, has a magical, even primeval feel.
Yet, the Park has been at the centre of controversy in recent decades, with questions posed about its management and the status of its most important habitats, particularly the old oakwoods. In October, I spent a few days in and around the Park and was fortunate to have been guided for some of this by senior staff from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the state agency that is charged with its care.
The Park is perhaps the most important site for biodiversity in Ireland, often referred to as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of our protected areas. However, it is also big business. Tourism generates €3 billion per year for the region while nearly two million extra tourists are visiting the area compared to a decade ago, according to Fáilte Ireland.
This places immense pressure on the Park’s ecology, from traffic to wastewater treatment and human disturbance. There is continual pressure for greater access to the Park for recreational activities whether that is funruns, car racing rallies or greenways.
There is no direct revenue stream from tourism to the Park, with the exception of an entry fee for Muckross House (the running of which brings its own costs) and the NPWS relies entirely on central government funding for day-to-day maintenance or conservation projects. This is in contrast to national parks in many places, which charge an entry fee or can avail of tourist taxes. In this regard the NPWS does an exceptional job; for the average visitor the Park is maintained to a high standard. It’s not hard to see why it is such a hit with visitors.
After years of neglect, funding for the NPWS has increased substantially in recent years, and this is reflected in the Park with greater staffing and resources.
- This allows for conservation projects such as the installation of decided ‘hibernacula’, artificial caves which will boost the internationally important population of lesser horseshoe bats.
- Historic plantations of non-native conifers are being felled. There are now two breeding nests of white-tailed eagle, up from zero 15 years ago.
- The Park has also expanded in recent years with acquisitions of new plots of land and it is hoped that it could get bigger still, as state-forester Coillte manages chunks of land around its perimeter.
Fires have plagued the Park and an exceptionally large one in 2021 has led to the creation of a dedicated fire unit. Park staff were keen to show off the range of new firefighting kit for dousing flames in inaccessible areas, something which is complemented by the support of helicopters equipped with water buckets if necessary. Perhaps because this high-profile response to the fire threat has created a deterrent among would be arsonists, the equipment has yet to be put to the test.
Sadly, the Park has become synonymous with rhododendron — an ornamental plant that has become one of our worst invasive species. If left unchecked, it creates a dense and impenetrable canopy under which no other flowering plant will grow.
Rhododendron remains a huge problem in the Park but it is being tackled in perhaps two thirds of affected areas. I was brought to Abbey Wood to see how dense, century-old thickets of the plant were being mulched by NPWS operators. At the remote Western Woods, private contractors have been bivouacked over the summer in an attempt to clear the weed from these inaccessible corners.
Investment in rhododendron clearance, which has averaged around €250,000 per annum, stood at over €1 million for the first time in 2024. Nevertheless, large areas remain densely infested. I found myself in the Glena forest, which is a vast and oppressive mat of old rhododendron, through which rare and ancient yews, strawberry trees and giant oaks and alders appear to be gasping for breath.
Then there’s the grazing. Even where rhododendron is not an issue, the forest is in a death phase due to too many hungry herbivores, which eat each and every tree seedling and forest floor flower. This includes the native red deer, the alien invasive Sika deer, feral goats and herds of sheep which trespass from neighbouring commonages.
For 15 years, NPWS staff have fenced off 11 large deer and sheep exclosures and have been monitoring the response of the vegetation. Low and behold, where there’s no grazing, the trees and other plants flourish. However, fences are not ideal, they need constant maintenance and, when deer get in, as they frequently do, they will selectively feast on the trees with softer leaves, leaving an apparent over-abundance of the prickly and tough-leaved holly.
NPWS insists that deer are being culled however it is baldly evident that efforts are insufficient to allow for forest regeneration. I was brought to one area, Derrycunihy, south of the Upper Lake, where I was told heavy culling had been carried out this year. The emerging saplings of oak, rowan and birch were evidence of this. But it’s early days, and this is just one area. Nowhere else in the Park, outside the exclosures, did I see any evidence of tree recovery.
Increased resources for the NPWS have not brought increased transparency or accountability. It’s near impossible for an independent outsider to evaluate what is or isn’t happening. An independent review of the ecology of the park has yet to be published; a separate review of the rhododendron situation is similarly withheld from the public; last year Minister for Nature, Malcolm Noonan, asserted that a report into the 2021 fire would be released imminently, but we are still waiting. Despite repeated promises, there is still no sign of a management plan which would hint at what the vision or priorities are for the Park. Even the data on vegetation recovery in the deer exclosures is not available.
The Park has immense potential. It should be made much, much bigger with a combination of land purchases and cooperation with neighbouring landowners. There should be plans for reintroduction of lynx, wild cat and yes, ultimately wolves.
We can be optimistic that the rhododendron is getting under control, but methodologies and work programmes need to be open to public scrutiny. The priority must be the reduction of grazing pressure. It is baffling how sheep and Sika deer are tolerated at all, while a wider plan for the native red deer population, one that goes beyond the Park, needs to be developed.
People are right to be upset at the current state of the Park. The NPWS could do itself some favours with greater openness and communication which would highlight the many good initiatives that are underway. I came away feeling that it would not take much to tip the balance in favour of nature, but we’ve already waited too long.